Books for Spring 2015

On the schedule for the Spring 2015 semester are two sections of the U.S. survey (1865-present) and the Old South course. As usual, I’ve switched up the books. I also assign articles to supplement the book readings.

History of the U.S. II

Beth L. Bailey, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) ISBN 9780801839351

Students generally like books that speak to their experience, so that’s my hope for this one.

James Broussard, Ronald Reagan: Champion of Conservative America (Routledge, 2014) ISBN 9780415521956

Jim is a good friend, and I had the opportunity to read the manuscript while it was in production.

K. Stephen Prince, Stories of the South: Race and the Reconstruction of Southern Identity, 1865-1915 (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2014) ISBN 9781469614182

I hope students respond well to the cultural focus of this book.

Old South

Edward Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (Basic Books, 2014) ISBN 9780465002962

This book has justifiably attracted a lot of media attention, and it will be interesting to hear students’ feedback.

Carole Emberton, Beyond Redemption: Race, Violence, and the American South after the Civil War (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2013) ISBN 9780226024271

Much like with the Civil War course, I want students to see the longer-term consequences of the Civil War for the South.

Lorri Glover, Founders as Fathers: The Private Lives and Politics of the American Revolutionaries (Yale Univ. Press, 2014) ISBN 9780300178609

As someone who has a continued interest in Andrew Jackson’s family relations, this book caught my eye. Lorri is one historian who has significantly influenced my understanding of southern kinship and father-son relations.

Paul Quigley, Shifting Grounds: Nationalism and the American South, 1848-1865 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2014) ISBN 9780199735488

We talked quite a bit about Confederate nationalism in this fall’s Civil War course, and I’m hoping that this book helps students better understand the connection.